JOIN USDon’t include more castes under Category 2A: Forum
Most Backward Classes Vigilant Forum, a body of representatives from 102 most backward communities who come under Category 2A, have opposed any move to include new castes and communities under the category, including Panchamasali Lingayats.
The forum has threatened to unite all 102 communities and stage protest if more castes and communities were included under 2A category, Forum chairman Mukhyamantri Chandru warned on Saturday.
He said that the non-political forum to protect interests of these communities was launched recently, following demands to include communities under Category 2A. He told media persons at the Patrika Bhavan that the government should protect interest of all those in 2A Category.
He said members of all 102 communities in Category 2A were landless and artisan communities, who had already lost their traditional occupations, Mukhyamantri Chandru said Panchamasali Lingayats are landowners. It is unfair to include them under 2A Category. In case if there are economically poor families in Panchamasali Lingayats, then the government should earmark special allocations to improve their conditions, rather than include them under 2A Category.
The government should scrap the decision to form three-member committee chaired by a retired judge to look into the demands for reservation that had cropped up in the state. “Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, which is a constitutional body and looks into the social justice and reservation issues. When there is a Commission, what sanctity will three-member committee will have,” he sought to know. To resolve the reservation issues, the government should accept the Socio-Economic Survey conducted in the state and make public census findings in public domain. Based on the report, the reservation matrix can be redrawn, he said.
He alleged that there is imbalance in the allocation of funds to the backward communities in the budget. For 16 corporations working for the welfare of the communities, the budget allocated only Rs 500 crore. However, it has earmarked Rs 500 crore each for Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas.